Daybreak
by Soleil Fel
Summary: The gang's now in university, but things are far from resolved. The new guy in Claudia's life is hiding a secret, Dawn wants to match-make Mary-Anne and Logan while Kristy begins to avoid Bart after a passion-filled night she has trouble remembering.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Daybreak  
Author: Soleil Fel  
Rating: PG-13  
Summary: The gang's now in university, but things are far from resolved. The new guy in Claudia's life is hiding a secret, someone is trying to match-make Mary-Anne and Logan and Kristy begins to avoid Bart after a passion-filled night she has trouble remembering.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Ann M. Martin and the publisher, Scholastic Inc. No money is being made from this piece of writing.

_A/N: It has been awhile since I've read BSC books, since Ann Martin stopped writing them a couple of years ago. However, that was before I found out about the BSC fanfiction section on . I've always wanted to develop her characters a bit more, especially the relationship between Kristy and Bart, which was rather unresolved in Kristy Bart = ? Kristy, Bart and the rest of the gang are now in university._

**Chapter 1**

A pale glow appeared on the blinds as the sun began to rise on the eastern horizon. Outside, the sky had taken on a purplish glow, as it usually did at dawn. Inside the darkened room, one of the figures stirred slightly.

On the bed, Kristy Thomas shifted her weight as she burrowed deeper into the covers. Giving a content sigh, she was just about to let sleep overtake her once more when something registered in her mind. Something was different, but she couldn't quite place on finger on what exactly it was.

As she was reluctantly pondering this in her half-awake state, her body immediately stiffened as an arm snaked about her waist and she soon found herself pressed intimately against a hard, male body. That was enough to send her from semi-consciousness to being fully alert within the space of a few seconds.

Kristy's first thought was to scream, but then the more rational part of her mind kicked in.  
Her brown eyes flew open as she surveyed her surroundings. The glow from the window gave her a bit of light and as her eyes traveled around, she couldn't help but feel as though it was strangely familiar; yet, it wasn't her room - and that was all the information she needed.  
She was in major trouble.

"Okay, Thomas, first things first." thought Kristy as she tried to calm down. She could feel her heart pounding rapidly against her chest as her breaths got shorter and quicker. Gently, with a calmness she did not feel, she started to slowly extract herself from his arms. To her dismay, his grip only tightened until she was pressed more tightly than before against the warm body behind her.

"Kristy..."

Kristy froze as she heard the faint mumble against her neck. It couldn't be! But she would have recognized that voice anywhere. How could she not, when she had unknowingly been pining away for him for so long?

All the pieces of the puzzle started to fall together. She knew where she was now. A sense of relief washed over her momentarily that she hadn't been so drunk that she had just gone all the way with a complete stranger. Then reality kicked in; she had just slept with...

She suddenly felt an urge to scream.

_"I have to get out of here!"_

Hastily, Kristy grabbed his hand and moved it away from her waist. Rolling over and off the bed, she grimaced as she moved her legs. Her body was practically aching all over and she could feel the tinges of a headache coming on.

Gritting her teeth, she groped around the floor in semi-darkness for her clothes. Even though he had probably seen her naked already, she didn't want to give him another chance. That and she wanted to be out of here before he woke up.

Minutes later, she pulled a sweatshirt over her head and with one final glance at the slumbering figure on the bed, she opened the door and closed it silently behind her.

Kristy ran down the stairs, skipping the last three steps and then immediately wishing that she hadn't when her head started spinning.

She didn't remember how exactly she finally made it back to the apartment on campus she shared with Mary-Anne, but when she arrived, she leaned heavily against the door while breathing in heavily.

After fumbling awkwardly for her keys from the pocket of her jeans, she stumbled into the living room and collapsed in a heap onto the floor. "_Home sweet home,_" she thought sarcastically. A few moments later, she was hunched over the toilet, her stomach emptying itself of it's previous contents.

However, she did feel her headache decreasing in intensity after this and she smiled weakly as she caught a glance of herself in the mirror. Her shoulder-length brown hair hung limply around her pale face and her eyes were bloodshot.

This certainly wasn't one of her better days, or in this case, nights.

After wiping her mouth off, she stumbled into her room, kicked her shoes off and threw herself onto the bed. She didn't even bother changing as she curled up under the covers and willed herself to sleep.

"_Oh Bart, what have we done?_" her mind cried out before she finally fell into an uneasy sleep.

_To be continued._


	2. Chapter 2

**Daybreak by Soleil Fel**

**Chapter 2**

Mary Anne pulled on a light blue sweater as she headed towards Kristy's closed door. Glancing at the clock again, she felt a bit amazed that her friend wasn't up already considering the time.  
For as long as they had known each other, Kristy had always been an early riser. It wasn't like the other girl to be sleeping in when it was already nine in the morning.

The brown-haired girl frowned in concern. At least her friend had made it in last night. She had began to worry when Kristy still wasn't back at eleven-thirty but then she had reassured herself that the other girl was more than capable of taking care of herself.

However, it wouldn't hurt to make sure and with that thought in mind, Mary Anne knocked softly on Kristy's closed bedroom door.

"Kristy?"

Hearing no reply, she knocked again. "Hey, are you up yet?"

Still hearing no reply, she knocked harder, starting to worry that something may have happened to her best friend. "I'm coming in, okay?"

When she entered the room, Mary Anne almost tripped over Kristy's carelessly discarded runners. Carefully picking her way through to the bed, she sat down at the side. Currently, Kristy was wrapped up so tightly in the blankets that she resembled a giant cocoon.

"Time to get up, sleepy-head."

Kristy opened her eyes a tiny bit before she shut them tightly again and groaned. "I feel like a couple of trains just ran over me," she mumbled. While her headache wasn't as bad as it was a few hours before, it was still enough to that she didn't want to do anything but sleep.

Mary Anne looked at her in concern. "Is there anything I can do?"

Her friend groaned, "Just...oh Dear Lord, why do I feel like I'm in major trouble?"

"You did come in a bit late last night..." Mary Anne was suddenly uneasy before she mentally scolded herself. This was Kristy for crying out loud!

However, Kristy's eyes immediately flew back open and Mary Anne watched as the color slowly drained out of her face.

"Kristy! Talk to me. What's wrong?"

At that moment, Kristy's eyes started to glaze over as she stared at the ceiling unseeingly.

What had really happened last night? Why couldn't she remember anything?

There was also the matter of Bart. How did she end up with him? Surely he wasn't responsible for her memory loss... No, this was Bart. Of course he wouldn't - but how was she suppose to face him later on?

She felt her vision blurring as tears began to form in her eyes. Kristy was so used to being in control and now she tried desperately to piece together the fragments while trying to justify her own actions and alternately, trying to convince herself that it hadn't happened.

Silent sobs wracked her body as confusion combined with grief and all Mary Anne could do was wrap her arms around her sobbing friend and whisper soothingly.

Meanwhile, the same thought ran through both of their minds. _What had happened last night?_

* * *

Meanwhile, in a dorm room elsewhere on campus, a slight groan could be heard before a head of tousled brown hair emerged from beneath the covers. Bart Taylor peered at the digital clock on his nightstand and swore before he remembered that it was a Saturday today which meant that he wasn't late for classes. However, the fact that he also had a headache the size of Mount Everest was enough to dampen any good mood he may have had.

It wasn't any surprise that he didn't remember much of last night, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was missing something important...

It was then he noticed that he was naked under the covers. Now that was odd. He didn't know about anybody else, but he knew that he wasn't in the habit of sleeping nude. What the hell was going on?

* * *

A few minutes later, Kristy's sobs had quieted down. Now she simply felt drained, physically and emotionally.

"Are you feeling better now?" Mary Anne asked softly from her spot on the edge of the bed.

Kristy bit her lip as she looked at her friend. She could see the concern and worry that were apparent in Mary Anne's eyes, but she also knew that her friend would never pry, even though she knew that the other girl must have a lot of questions right now.

"A tiny bit." Gathering what remained of her courage, she added softly, "I slept with Bart last night."

A shocked silence met this statement. Kristy closed her eyes and sighed. Now that she had said it, it seemed as though her mind was finally accepting that this was true.

"What? How?" Mary Anne seemed to be at a loss for words, "Kristy, how did this happen?" she finally managed to ask.

"I don't know." She could feel her eyes starting to water again, "That's just it, I don't remember anything that happened last night...when I woke up...he was beside me..."

The other girl breathed in sharply. However, she knew that her friend needed someone to lean on right now, not someone to badger her with questions that she couldn't answer.

Mary Anne wrapped her arms around the other girl, "Everything's going to be alright, Kristy. Don't worry." she said soothingly. _Now if only I knew what I could do to make this better?_

* * *

"Bloody Hell."

Bart stared at the small tell-tale red stain on his bedsheets. If it wasn't before, now it was blindingly obvious as to what he had done the night before. He gritted his teeth in frustration as he tried to search through his memory for the events that had transpired only seven hours ago.

However, all he could come up with were blurs and random fragments.

He remembered hanging around with the guys at the club. He grimaced as he remembered that Issa had been there as well, shamelessly flirting with Brian.

Bart squeezed his eyes shut. There was no way he would...now that was something he'd rather not imagine. He shook his head as to rid himself of that disturbing thought. Who else had been there? He remembered seeing Stacey at some time, as well as this brunette from his English class...

That was when he noticed the long light-brown colored hair on his pillow. Who did he know with brown hair?

His eyes widened as another thought came to him. There was another person he had seen last night...but it couldn't be her...could it?

_To be continued._


	3. Chapter 3

**Daybreak by Soleil Fel**  
**Chapter 3**

"How's the studying coming along?" Dawn looked up to meet Claudia's amused gaze.

"Painfully," the blond replied wryly, clearing a space on the table for Claudia to put her breakfast. "If all courses are going to be like this, I'm seriously considering switching majors."

Claudia grinned over the rim of her cup before she took a sip of her coffee, "Well, you could always join me in fine arts."

"No thanks. Arts and me really _don't_ mix that well."

At that moment, Claudia started waving as she spotted a familiar-looking figure near the entrance to the cafe.

Stacey McGill waved back as she weaved through the tables to where the two of them were sitting.

"Are you sure about that? Uh huh... Love you too, bye," Stacey snapped her cell-phone shut as she dropped her book bag on the floor beside Claudia.

"So who was that?" teased the Japanese girl, "That cute guy from your marketing class finally ask you out?"

Her best friend simply smiled secretively. "No, this one's cuter."

"I've been trying for weeks to get her to tell me," Claudia told Dawn, "I swear, with all this secrecy, I really hope she's not dating some kind of..." she struggled for a an apt description, "...escaped criminal or something."

"Or something," echoed Dawn with a smirk.

Stacey laughed out loud. "Ignore her," she told Dawn, "She's just mad because she still hasn't figured out who he is."

"Care to let us in on the secret now?"

"Both of you already know him," Stacey smiled, "And that's all I'm going to say."

"We know a _lot_ of people, Stacey." Claudia said dryly, "And I still say that you're seeing that guy from your marketing class." Suddenly, she brightened as she spotted someone behind Dawn.

"Will!"

Dawn shared an amused look with Stacey as a guy with black hair and glasses paused by their table. Stacey grabbed a few pages of Dawn's notes and pretended to look through it as she glanced at the newcomer out of the corner of her eye. Short black hair, watchful brown eyes hidden under a pair of wire-rimmed glasses...skinny and not really that tall. In all, she pegged him as the quiet, studious type, probably the guy who aced all the tests in every single class. Or as Laine would have said: a nerd.

"Will, what are you doing here?" Claudia was saying, "I thought you were going to Toronto for the break."

Will looked a bit sheepish, "That was before my physics prof decided to spring an exam on us right after the break. It's worth a large chunk of my mark, so I decided to stay and study for that instead."

"Yup," thought Stacey, "Definitely the class genius type."

"How did your math test go?" he asked her.

Claudia blushed, "I actually managed a B on it, thanks to you," she threw him a dazzling smile.

A pink tinge appeared on his face. "Always glad to help," he said lightly, "I'll see you around, Claud."

Claudia gave him a small good-bye wave.

"Sooooooooo," Stacey deliberately drew out the word, "So, that's who you have the hots for. I don't think I would have pegged you as going for the studious type, girl."

"We're just friends," interjected Claudia, "Besides, he probably prefers a nice girl with a straight A average."

"I think someone's protesting a bit too much" Dawn couldn't resist joining in the teasing.

"I'm not!"

"That's what they all say," Stacey said in a stage-whisper to Dawn.

"Really, Will and I don't like each other that way."

"You mean, you don't like him that way...yet, because I'm pretty sure he likes you."

"We're _friends_," Claudia deliberately stressed the last word, "That's all there is to it."

Dawn tapped her pencil against the table thoughtfully. "Actually, this almost reminds me of that Spiderman movie," she grinned, "Class geek is in love with popular girl. Geek develops super-powers and a six-pack overnight, saves the girl from danger like ten times in a row, girl declares her love for him...you get the idea."

"I sure do," Stacey smiled cheekily at Claudia, "You sure he doesn't have some sort of alter-ego that you're attracted to?"

"So you want me to inspect him for a hidden six pack?" Claudia said dryly even if she was rather amused by the idea.

"Not on the first date," Stacey said solemnly, "You might scare him off."

The three of them looked at each other before bursting out into giggles.

"I feel like we're in high school again," Claudia chuckled before a thought crossed her mind, "It's kind of ironic, really, because my parents would probably approve of him."

Dawn looked curious, "What makes you think so?"

"Well, he's smart and he gets good grades for one, plus he's polite, fluent in Japanese.. and...oh, you know what I mean."

"For another thing, he's also Japanese." added Stacey.

"Actually, he isn't."

The blond looked a bit surprised. "No?"

"He's Chinese, actually. He was born in Hong Kong, but he came over to the U.S. when he was about six."

"Well..." Stacey pondered this for a second, "Does that make much of a difference?"

Claudia shrugged, "Depends on your point of view."

"So does he match your description of the perfect guy?"

The dark-haired girl laughed, "Stace, you really don't give up easily, do you?"

"Not when it's so entertaining. Now," she whispered conspiratorially to Dawn, "Let's see if Will fulfills at least some of Claudia's ideal guy requirements."

"Stacey!"

"Now, I think she said that he had to be funny," Stacey ignored Claudia's half-hearted protests, "Well, judging from that smile on her face when she sees him, we'll check that off. Now, is he handsome?"

"Kind of, I guess," said Dawn, "He's not that bad on the eyes and he's cute…in a scholarly kind of way, I suppose."

"Guys!" protested Claudia. Personally, she wasn't sure whether to be amused or embarrassed.

"What other things were there? Oh yes, he has to be sensitive, easy to talk to and a good-listener...I say we can check all three off. After all, if he weren't all these things, Claudia would be treating him like Alan Gray."

"Like dirt, you mean," Dawn added wryly, "I still haven't figured out why she agreed to date him near the end of middle school."

"Alan wasn't that bad," protested Claudia.

"I'm sure he wasn't, but then you didn't like him that much most of the time either," Stacey smirked, "Anyways, where was I again? He has to be taller than her...uh...we'll say yes for now...athletic...well, I think we can say that Will probably isn't that much into sports...as for muscles...hmm...probably not..."

"He's actually does have some muscles," interjected Claudia and then she squirmed as both pairs of eyes immediately fastened onto her. "What?"

"And how would you know?"

"He was wearing one of those sleeveless shirts when it was hot outside, okay!"

"Any tattoos?"

Claudia looked a bit bewildered by this question. "I don't know...What does that have to do with anything?"

"Is he rich?"

Claudia blinked. "How would I know?"

"C'mon," Stacey persisted, "What kind of car does he drive?"

"I think he drives a BMW...why?"

"I'm thinking his parents bought that for him so he's probably rich. Not to mention all those outrageous prices they charge for parking in this city," Stacey told Dawn before she turned to Claudia, "So, based on all our observations-"

"-You'd be a fool not to go for him." finished Dawn.

"What do you want me to do?" Claudia arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow, "Jump him?"

"Well, if you're in that much of a hurry..."

Claudia shook her head before she gave them an exasperated smile, "You two will be the death of me, I swear."

Stacey threw an arm around her shoulders, "That's what friends are for."

They grinned.

"Although, I think jumping him isn't such a bad idea after all," Stacey couldn't resist adding.

"Stacey!"

"Who's Claudia jumping?" asked an amused voice from behind them.

_To be continued._


	4. Chapter 4

**Daybreak by Soleil Fel**

Disclaimer: Don't own the BSC. They belong to Ann M. Martin even after her writer's block effectively killed off the BSC (just kidding about that last part).

**Chapter 4**

"Hey Mary Anne!" Dawn stood up to give her step-sister and best friend a hug. "What took you so long? And where's Kristy?"

Mary Anne let out a sigh as she sat down in the chair beside Dawn's across from Claudia and Stacey.

"Is everything alright?" Stacey asked in concern, "You look tired."

"I'm okay, but it's actually not me though," Mary Anne paused, "It's Kristy."

"Is she okay?" questioned Claudia, "The last time I saw her she looked fine to me, almost perky, in fact."

"It's just..." Mary Anne turned to the Stacey, "Do you remember seeing Kristy last night?"

The blond wrinkled her brow, "Well, we went to the party together but I had to leave early..." She closed her eyes, thinking back to the previous night. Some of her friends from her business classes had roped her into one of the parties being held by one of the frats. Since both Kristy and her were in the School of Business, they usually shared a few classes together. Last night, the two of them had headed off to the party, but Stacey had to leave early because she'd had to meet her boyfriend... "Why, is Kristy alright?"

Mary Anne looked around for a second before she gestured for the others to come closer. "Look, you have to keep this quiet, okay?" she said in a low voice, "I think somebody added something to Kristy's drink when she wasn't looking."

"What happened to her?" Dawn's eyes widened, "Is she okay?"

Mary Anne bit her lip, "When I woke her up this morning she had a terrible hangover. That and she can't remember what led up to...guys, Kristy said that she ended up sleeping with...someone and she doesn't know how that happened."

"What?" gasped Claudia, "Oh my God. How is she?"

"I know!" added Dawn sympathetically, "That's horrible."

"She was crying when she woke up...I only came out because she told me that she wanted to be alone for awhile." Mary Anne grimaced, "I'm leaving in a few minutes anyway - I keep worrying that she's going to do something drastic."

They were all silent for a moment. Suddenly Dawn blurted out, "I know sex at college is like common and all, but what you just said, that's like date rape!" Her face darkened, "What kind of jerk would do such a thing?"

"I know!" added Claudia angrily, "Does Kristy remember who it was? I swear, I'm going to kick that guy so hard-"

"That's the problem," Mary Anne sighed, rubbing her eyes, "Lots of people had the chance to spike her drink..."

"What about that guy she ended up with? Why are we still sitting here instead of beating him to a bloody pulp or something?" demanded Stacey.

"Kristy made me promise not to say anything to him."

"But you do know who it is, right?" asked Claudia.

"Yes," Mary Anne said slowly, "It…It's Bart."

"BART?"

"Well," Stacey let out a deep breath, "If the circumstances were different, I would have said something along the lines of 'about damn time'!"

"Yeah," agreed Claudia, "Only right now it just sucks big time!"

"You have to promise that you won't go after him," the words rushed out of Mary Anne's mouth, "I don't think Kristy wants him to know."

Dawn blinked, "He doesn't know?"

"I don't think so," Mary Anne bit her lip, "From what she told me, she left before he woke up….so we don't think he knows."

All of them were silent for a few seconds.

"That's just…" Stacey finally threw up her hands in annoyance, "I don't know."

"Yeah," Mary Anne looked around the table, "Me neither."

* * *

They went their separate ways some time later: Mary Anne wanted to go back and check on Kristy, Dawn had to go get some groceries, Claudia had to go to the Art Gallery to look something up. Left along with her errands for the weekend done already, Stacey decided to head back to her place.

As she headed down the familiar route back to place, the sense of guilt she had felt increased. Kristy and her were good friends, even if the crowds they hung out with at university differed a bit. Maybe if she'd stayed behind last night, Kristy would have been alright...

Different what-if thoughts made their way through her mind. Stacey was barely aware as she closed the door behind her and tossed the keys onto a side table, so she stiffened when two hands clapped onto her shoulders.

"Relax," teased a familiar voice, "I swear, you're as stiff as a board!"

She turned around slowly; when she saw his blue eyes sparkling at her, the guilt seemed to increase ten-fold and her expression must have given her away.

"Stace," he tilted her chin up with his hand, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! I-" her voice cracked.

He gave a gentle snort, "It's obviously something if you're that upset about it."

Stacey buried her face into his shirt, her left hand clenched tightly around the fabric, "I feel so guilty." she said in a muffled voice, "It's all my fault."

"What's all your fault?" Sam Thomas was getting more confused by the moment. However, all he managed to catch was "...your sister...I knew I never should have...all my fault...should have stayed..."

"Whoa, whoa." he said, "All I managed to catch was that this had something to do with Kristy."

He patted her head gently, "She's not giving you a hard time about our relationship, is she?"

"I wish she would!" Stacey laughed shakily, "No, it's not that. Last night, some idiot spiked Kristy's drink at the frat party..." she trailed off as she saw Sam's confused expression was immediately replaced with a look of anger.

"Some asshole spiked my sister's drink?" He said in a low voice before he grabbed her arm, "Is she okay? Tell me!"

"She..." she paused, "I think she ended up in bed with someone..."

"WHAT!" Now Sam was close to seeing red, "You mean someone _raped_ her?"

"No!" Stacey said quickly, "He would never do that! I known him a long time and he would never..."

"You know who he is?" her boyfriend asked softly.

"Yes," Her eyes looked conflicted, "Kristy made us promise not to tell anyone though."

"But I'm her brother for crying out loud!"

"Sam, please, I don't want to fight with you," she pleaded, "Besides, it's all my fault anyway!"

"Why would it be your fault though?"

"If I hadn't left early, this never would have happened!" she said desperately.

"Stace," He pulled her back into his arms, "Look, you couldn't have known..."

"That doesn't stop me from feeling guilty about it," she said softly, pressing her face against his shirt as his arms held her tightly against him.

Both of them were silent for a moment as Sam digested all this new information. "How is she then?" He finally asked.

"She's coping." Blue eyes met blue. "I'm really sorry, Sam."

"Don't be. It's not your fault. Although when I find that jerk that did this to my sister I'm going to break a few-"

"Sam, promise me you won't ask Kristy about this." Stacey interrupted.

"Why not?" he shot back.

"She's probably going to want to put it behind her. I think the last thing she wants is you interrogating her."

"I'll think about it," he said grudgingly before his expression softened as he looked at Stacey. "How about you?"

"I've had better days," she murmured, resting her face against his chest again, "I'm just glad you're here."

* * *

Dawn juggled her books along with her groceries as she fished for her keys. Carol's sister owned an apartment in the city and since she traveled so much, she was happy to lend it to Dawn for the duration of her exchange.

"Need some help?" A masculine voice whispered into her ear, almost causing her to drop everything onto the ground.

"I almost dropped everything, thanks to you," she said dryly as she handed him her books before she finally managed to turn the key into the lock.

He followed her into the kitchen as she plopped the groceries down onto the counter. Placing her textbooks onto the table, he wrapped his arm around her waist and tilted her head back. Dawn barely had time to be surprised before his lips pressed against hers.

Her eyes fluttered shut and she moved her hand until her fingers were entangled into his hair. An involuntary moan escaped her lips as he broke the kiss.

Dawn looked at her boyfriend from under hooded eyes. "Well," she said breathlessly, "Nice to see you too."

Lewis Bruno simply gave her another quick kiss before he moved away. "So how was the breakfast outing?"

"It was…." Dawn mulled it over before she finally settled on a word "…Interesting."  
"How so?"

She gave him a small smile, "Let's just leave it at that. Please."

"Okay," Lewis grabbed a stool and propped his elbows on the counter as Dawn started putting her groceries away. "Speaking of which, I ran into some of the guys on the team this morning. Apparently we missed one of the biggest parties of the year last night."

"I seem to recall that we were…occupied last night," Dawn gave him a knowing smile.

"Oh yeah," then he pouted, although Dawn could seem the glint of amusement in his eyes, "I still can't believe you locked me out of your room," he almost whined.

"I wouldn't have had to if you stopped trying to sneak into my bed."

"Ah well," he raised an eyebrow, "I still got in there eventually."

Dawn tried to fight down as blush as she recalled what exactly had happened after that, and she tried to change the topic. "Have you seen Logan around lately?" she said abruptly.

"Dawn," Lewis groaned, "Don't tell me you're still trying to match make those two."

"I'm not trying to match make them…" Dawn said innocently, "Besides, if you want to blame someone, you can blame Alisha for putting the idea into my head."

"What does Alisha have to do with this again?"

"She was the one that suggested that there might be something to it," Dawn replied, "This was after Grace told her that they'd been a steady couple in middle school."

"Grace who?"

"Grace Blume," clarified Dawn, "She used to hang out with Cokie at SMS." She said the name of the other girl with a slight grimace.

"Oh, that girl," Lewis' lip twitched, "I heard that Cokie used to have quite the thing for my cousin."

"And she took it out on poor Mary Anne because Logan was smart enough to see Mary Anne was so much better," sniffed Dawn, "Man, I used to hate her so much."

"So…you're thinking that Logan and Mary Anne still have unresolved feelings for each other."

"Alisha said that, not me," corrected Dawn, "I recall that I merely asked you what your opinion was and you laughed your head off."

"No I didn't."

"In fact, I think you almost wet your pants."

Lewis placed a hand over his heart and sighed dramatically, "You wound me."

"Right."

"Sorry," apologized Lewis although his expression was anything but apologetic, "But it's kind of hard to imagine all that 'unresolved sexual tension' Alisha claims there is."

Dawn laughed, "That's true. I don't know where the heck she got that from. There hasn't been anything between them since the end of eighth grade. They've had four years to get over it in high school…."

"Too bad Alisha doesn't think so."

"Yeah," sighed Dawn, "You know that Mary Anne hasn't seen anyone after Logan?"

"Logan said that he's seen her around with some other guys."

"Logan said that?" Dawn raised an eyebrow, "_Well, well,_" she thought to herself, "_Maybe there is something there after all._"

"Anyways, I meant that she hasn't been in a serious relationship ever since she broke up with him," she clarified.

"I don't think he has either," Lewis rubbed the back of his neck, "You know, I think, maybe, you could be onto to something here…"

_To be continued._

A/N: Kristy's POV coming up in the next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Daybreak by Soleil Fel**

_A/N: Thanks so much to all the people that took the time to catch up on my fic!_

_Oh and I just stumbled across the BSC forums at babysittersclub . proboards. com today! I didn't even know there was such a place. Guess that really shows how long I've been away from the BSC fandom._

**Chapter 5**

The buzz that always preceded a lecture surrounded Mary Anne as she headed into her English class. Grabbing an aisle seat near the back, she unfolded a copy of the free newspaper floating around campus and flipped towards the back page.

"Is anyone sitting here?"

Mary Anne looked up from the Sudoku puzzle she was working on into a familiar face.

"Logan! You're in this class too?" Then she mentally kicked herself for asking such an obvious question.

He nodded, "I actually saw you the last few times, but then you were always on the other side of the room."

"Oh," Mary Anne bit her lip as he sat down beside her.

"So how have you been?"

"Good...I've been good," For some reason she felt tongue-tied and the feeling bothered her. Back in middle school she'd never had any problem talking with Logan. In fact, when they were dating, they'd often spend hours on the phone with each other. But then the last time she'd been this tongue-tied was when she was talking with this senior she'd been crushing on at SHS during her junior year.

_Surely I don't still like Logan that way... Do I?_

Another voice in her mind promptly pitched in. _There are tons of seats in this hall and he chose to sit beside you._

T_hat's probably because he doesn't know anyone else in here. Admit it, you never really got over him even though you wrote him off as "finished business" at the end of middle school._

_Of course I got over him! I even-why the heck am I arguing with myself?_

Mary Anne pinched the bridge of her nose. _I'm going crazy_, she thought.

"Hey," Logan looked concerned, "You okay?"

"I think I'm going crazy," she muttered before her eyes widened. She definitely did _not_ mean to say that out loud!

She could feel her face heating up already.

He just laughed. "It's that time of the term alright. I'm so glad mid-term break's coming up."

Mary Anne was saved from embarrassing herself any further as the professor finally began the lecture.

* * *

Kristy grimaced at the face staring back at her in the mirror. After the initial hysterics had passed, the more rational part of her personality had finally kicked in, although convincing Mary Anne of that had taken a bit more time.

Splashing some water onto her face, she sighed inwardly. "I look like hell," she thought to herself as she looked at the pale face of her reflection. "Not only that," her thoughts continued, "I feel like it too."

Kristy also felt a bit dirty from all of last night's activities, so a shower was definitely needed.  
Meanwhile, quite a bit of thoughts ran through her mind. For one, she knew that she had always been more….conservative when it came to the matter of relationships.

It wasn't as though she was adverse to a kiss or two, but it wasn't her fault that she never felt inclined to engage in a heavy make out session.

For example, she had difficulty fathoming how two people could spend five minutes in a crowded hallway doing nothing but sucking face, as was often seen at SHS.

Heck, she barely even enjoyed going out of the few dates she had during high school.  
With a tiny sigh, she climbed into the shower and set it to warm. "No need to torture myself with that cold shower just yet," she thought sardonically, "No matter how much I deserve it."

A few minutes later, she discovered that it felt like she ached all over. Muscles she didn't even know she had felt sore. "I guess we must have done it more than once." Kristy scowled as that thought crossed her mind, and then her thoughts drifted to Bart.

She reluctantly concluded that she could have ended up with someone worse…and by that she meant anyone but him. It was just... How the heck was she supposed to face him now? Ever since their famous "break-up" in eighth grade, they had never really, what was the word? developed, their relationship beyond a few almost platonic kisses.

Well, okay, she thought with a tinge of annoyance, there was that time at the New Year's Eve party last year when he had taken her by surprise and planted that long, lingering, toe-curling kiss on her, but she hadn't thought much of it.

Geez, the two of them even had lunch together every so often ever since they arrived at college, but that was understandable, since it was nice to see a familiar face around and all.

Would they just laugh about it the next time they saw each other, or would it be all awkward…or maybe she was just making a big deal out of nothing.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Kristy thought to herself angrily, "Sex in college is nothing! It's so common that nobody eve bats an eyelash when they hear about it! Stop making such a big deal over it!"

However, as she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower stall, she couldn't help but feel a slight disappointment that she couldn't remember any of her time with Bart last night.

* * *

Despite telling herself thousands of times that she would simply go on as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, Kristy couldn't help but avoid Bart over the next few days.

It wasn't as though she was trying to avoid him, she thought to herself.

It was just that she needed to go to the library to find some books at the same time he walked into the cafeteria and that time she told him that she had a huge test coming up when he asked her if she wanted to play some Ultimate.

That wasn't a lie, really – it was just that the exam in question was an entire month later.

It was just so difficult being around him when he kept on pretending that that particular night had never happened.

She'd expected him to say something, anything, but the first time they spoke after that night, it was business as usual – and for some reason she refused to look too deep into, she could her chest tightening after every encounter.

"You didn't even like him that way before that night!" she mentally scolded herself although that a tiny voice in her mind snorted at that thought.

* * *

The student union building was packed as usual during the middle of the school day. Having just bought her lunch, Claudia was looking for a spot when her gaze fell upon a familiar figure near the corner.

As luck would have it, the couple of seats near him was relatively empty so she started making her way over.

Will looked surprised when Claudia plopped down in the seat beside him.

"Hey, Will. Mind if I sit here?"

"Oh, go ahead," He quickly moved some of his papers to make room for her.

"Business Finance?" Claudia saw the book he'd been engrossed in before she'd interrupted, "I thought you were a physiology major?"

"Commerce minor," His mouth twitched, "It's an Asian thing."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. It's supposed to be useful and all that."

"So is it?"

"I was starting to drift off before you arrived," he admitted, rubbing his eyes. The movement pulled the sleeve of his shirt down a bit and Claudia's eyes widened when she saw the angry red slash across Will's forearm.

"Oh my God. What happened?"

"What?"

"Your arm," she reached out and tentatively touched the wound, "That must have really hurt."

"Oh, um, accident. I was at home, wasn't watching where I was going and tripped. I hit a side table on my way down. Pretty clumsy of me, eh," He laughed a bit self-consciously at this, although Claudia noticed that he wouldn't meet her gaze as he said it.

The conversation eventually drifted onto more mundane topics, but Claudia's talk about the new art exhibition was interrupted by the melody of Will's cell-phone.

He glanced at the number and seemed to pale. "Sorry about that, Claudia. Uh, can you watch my stuff?"

She nodded and her eyes followed him as he headed out the glass doors onto the grassy area beside the SUB.

"Damn Stacey and Dawn for giving me ideas," she thought to herself as she watched Will through the windows. He wasn't even her type! Sure he was nice and cute in a kind of nerdy sort of way, but she'd always envisioned her ideal guy to be an athlete or maybe an artsy type. And definitely _not_ some guy with a perfect 4.0 GPA who would probably have given Janine a run for her money had they'd been in the same year.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the familiar beep that indicated a text message.

"I should have known," Claudia groaned inwardly as she saw the number.

_Was on my way to acct when I saw u guys. u 2 r so cute! Invite him 2 to the movie outing._

Stacey really needed to stop trying to find her a boyfriend, Claudia thought._ Although_, a tiny voice in her head said, _it wouldn't hurt to ask if he was interested in tagging along. It was just a movie and Dawn would there with Lewis, so it wasn't as if he'd be the only guy._

"_I am not asking him out_," Claudia was thinking to herself as Will headed back in, "_It is not a date. It's just an outing with friends. Yup._"

"You okay?" she asked when she saw the troubled expression on his face.

He snapped out of it, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just…" Will took a deep breath, "My brother's in the hospital."

"Oh!" Claudia really didn't know what to say to that. Heck, she hadn't even known that he had a brother in the first place!

"He should be fine really soon though, but yeah…" Will trailed off, "Anyways, when's your next class?"

"It's at one, so I'm going to be leaving soon. My class is on the other side of campus."

"I guess I'll see you around then."

Claudia hesitated as she remembered Stacey's message but then she decided to take the plunge. After all, the worse he could say was no, right?

"I know this is kind of random, but are you free this Saturday? A bunch of friends and I were planning to catch a movie. You know, Invincible 2?. You want to come with?"

Will blinked. "I guess so. I was actually planning on heading into the lab to work on my research project, but I can meet you afterwards."

"Great!" she smiled at him, "I'll see you then."

_And if anything goes wrong and I make a fool of myself, I'm blaming it all on Stacey!_

To be continued.

_A/N: I know that Kristy's reaction may not be entirely realistic, but I'm hoping that you'll bear with me here. Personally I think that Kristy is used to being in control that so that when she isn't, I think she might react more in a "What the hell did I just do? What do I do now?" way. Just my opinion though._

_Thanks for reading, everyone!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Daybreak by Soleil Fel**

_A/N: I was reading it over again and lol, I think I might have overmilked the Kristy-angst for all its worth. AHHH..._

_Also, I know it's probably unrealistic that most the girls seemed to end up with their middle school significant others, but I'm hoping that point doesn't detract from the story too much. That and I always wanted Kristy and Bart to get together again in the series after they broke up.  
_

_Anyways, I've been seriously neglecting this fic in favor of my Smallville fics and I apologize for that. Though if you're wondering why I set up this sub-account in the first place...I can't remember either._

**Chapter 6**

_How on earth did I get roped into this_, Mary Anne thought, her fingers tightening on the strap of her purse before she opened the doors to the café.

Oh right, it was because she couldn't say no to Dawn pleading with her to "please give that nice guy a chance, please, please, I even set up everything, you can't back out now!"

Which led to her being set up on a blind date with absolutely no clue as to who the mysterious guy was other than 1) her step-sibling knew him and 2) he was "nice" (at least according to Dawn).

With a sigh, she took a seat at the table near the windows and started mentally compiling a list of "better things she could be doing with her time".

"Mary Anne?"

She looked up and her jaw dropped open. "Logan?" And then, "Dawn is so dead."

"Now that doesn't sound like the Mary Anne I know."

"I felt like making an exception today," she said matter-of-factly.

"I'll bet," Logan smiled ruefully, "I guess I should have known – after all, it was Lewis that told me to come here."

"Your cousin set you up?" Mary Anne looked thoughtful, "Although I can't say I'm surprised – considering Dawn's got him wrapped around her little finger."

"He is?"

She shrugged, "Seems like it."

* * *

"So, how have you been?"

Bart was getting more than a bit frustrated – not to mention confused. Ever since that morning when he woke up with a killer hangover and absolutely no idea which girl he had just slept with, it also seemed as though the Stonybrook gang was mad at him for no reason!

Kristy seemed to be going out of her way to avoid him, Mary Anne seemed usually cold and formal, Stacey couldn't seem to look him in the eye, Sam seemed to be pissed off at him and Dawn kept on giving him all these weird looks. In fact, the only people that seemed to be okay were his non-Stonybrook friends and Logan.

What was even more perplexing was the identity of the mystery girl. He had asked around, but the only thing anyone seemed to recall was that he had left with a brown-haired girl that particular night….which was not helpful in the least. However, some of the guys in his building were positive that it was Sadie from his economics class.

This theory was effectively dashed a few days later.

"Hey there, stud."

"Hey yourself," Bart smiled, although inwardly he was bracing himself, 'Okay Taylor, this could end really badly….'

"Great party the other night, huh?" she gave him a slow smile and sat down on the edge of his desk.

"I think so."

"So where did you run off to? It's like one minute you were there and the next you were gone. You could have saved me a dance," she pouted prettily.

Bart just stared at her for a long moment before he managed to reply, "Well, there's always next time," he said weakly.

So if it wasn't Sadie, then who…?

He knew that Kristy and Stacey had also been present sometime that night, but the latter had left early, and whenever he tried to start a conversation with Kristy, she just seemed to find an excuse to leave.

Personally, it was the situation with Kristy that was bothering him the most. That had been almost best friends for so long, although there had been a few rough patches over the years (most notably the infamous break-up in eighth grade), but they had always managed to patch things up. So why was she mad at him now?

About two weeks after that night, Bart finally reaching his breaking point in regards to Kristy.  
He caught up with her about a block from the building where she lived.

"Hey, Kristy! Wait up!" A panicked expression flashed briefly across Kristy's eyes before she forced a small smile.

"What's up, Bart-man?"

"Are you busy right now?" he asked casually.

"Well," she looked at her watch, "I am meeting Stacey in five minutes," Kristy lied.

"That so?" Now Bart's voice was deceptively calm.

"Yes…"

"Well, then I guess you'll have time after all," he finally said, "Because I just ran into Stacey and she told me she was heading for an Finance Club meeting."

Kristy blinked, "I guess I must have remembered wrong," she offered a bit weakly.

"Why, Kristy," Bart drawled, "One would think that you're going out of your way to avoid me."

That tiny flicker of wariness appeared in her eyes again before she turned away from him, "You're imagining things," she said shortly, "I've just had a lot to do-"

"You've avoiding me ever since that night at the party," interrupted Bart, "And I want to know why."

"Look," Kristy turned back, but kept her gaze pinned firmly on a spot over his shoulder, "I've been really busy these days and it has nothing to do with avoiding you."

"Busy?" Bart said incredulously, "Such as working on that term paper that's due two months from now?"

Kristy glared at him, "Just because you may leave things to the last minute doesn't mean I don't like to get a head start!" she hissed.

"C'mon, I've known you for, how many years now? Six? Look, I know you study, but you never study this hard. Besides, what did I do to you for you to be so pissed off at me?" Bart ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Well, if you don't know I'm not going to tell you."

"Very mature," Bart said dryly, "Eighteen going on six now, aren't we?"

"Shut up."

"No, not until you tell me what's wrong."

Kristy just gave him a long look, tinged with more than a bit of anger. "What's wrong?" she hissed angrily, "What's wrong?" Then she gave a little laugh, "What's wrong is that you're allowed to act as though nothing happened that night, but no, that means I'm not allowed to react to that in my own way!" She turned on her heel and started marching away, "This conversation is over."

Bart ran after her and grabbed her arm, "No, it isn't," he said firmly.

"Let go."

"No."

"Let go or I swear I will kick you so hard-"

"Try it. I dare you."

If looks could kill, Bart had a feeling he would be roughly ten feet below by now.

"What else do you possibly want from me?" Kristy finally gritted out, "You made a choice to pretend that everything was fine, but I can't do that, okay? I'm not one of those sluts you bang every other night!"

Bart froze. "What…" He said when he finally found his voice again, "What are you saying?"

Kristy just glared at him while angrily brushing her wind-blown bangs out of her face, "You knew it was my first time and you know I'm not the type for casual sex," she spat at him, "So excuse me for expecting the guy to be a little more understanding!" With that, she jerked her arm out of his grasp and ran off towards the dorms.

_To be continued._


	7. Chapter 7

**Daybreak by Soleil Fel**

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone that's read, reviewed or added this fic to your favorites/alerts list! I know that updates for this fic have been really sporadic, so I thank you for your patience.

**Chapter 7**

It took Bart a few more seconds to process all that Kristy had just told him. When he finally took off after her, he'd only managed to arrive in the lobby to see the elevator doors slamming shut. Swearing, he ran towards the stairs and taking them two at time, he panted heavily at the third floor just to see Kristy fumbling with her keys as she tried to get the door open.

As he sprinted down the hallway, Kristy finally managed to her door open and he arrived just into time to wedge a foot in before the former could slam it shut.

"Go away!"

"No," Bart said between pants, "Not until you hear me out."

He could hear her resigned sigh, "Will you go away if I do?"

"Yes."

"Fine," grumbled Kristy, reluctantly letting go of the door. She didn't bother looking at him as he headed in, shutting the door beside him.

In the living room, Kristy deliberately took the Laz-Z-Boy so he couldn't sit beside her. She watched as he flopped down onto the couch diagonally from her.

"Well," she said rather impatiently, "I'm waiting here."

She was rather unprepared for the next words that came out of his mouth.

"Why did you sneak off that morning?" he said abruptly.

Kristy's mouth fell open, "Sneak off?" she said indignantly, "What? Was I supposed to wait for you to wake up so we could both freak out?"

Now Bart just gave her a long look. "You freaked out," he stated calmly.

The girl sitting across from him just rolled her eyes, "Oh no, I sleep with guys I've known for half my life all the time! Of course I wouldn't freak out!"

Bart ignored her sarcastic tone, "And you're avoiding me because you think I'm pretending that we never slept with each other."

"So that's not what you think? Enlighten me here, I think the anvil-sized hints aren't quite enough." she snipped.

"...And now you're mad at me."

Kristy gave him a mocking look, "No, whatever made you think that?"

"Damnit, Kristy, will you stop that?" Bart could feel some of his temper fraying.

She just sighed, "Look, it was a mistake. I get that, it's just…I need some time to react to it, okay? Sheesh, I've already spent like a few days freaking out that I might have gotten knocked up, which I'm not, so you can stop looking so damned scared-"

Her voice rose to a pitch that was highly uncharacteristic of her usual personality, "-and then you're acting like nothing happened and that was my first time, you jerk!"

"Enough with the name-calling already, okay?"

Kristy just crossed her arms over her chest and scowled in his direction.

He decided to take that as a silent agreement on her part. "Look, I only remember bits and pieces from that night," admitted Bart, "And even those are all jumbled up."

"Somebody spiked my drink," she finally said.

"Yeah, whoever it was probably got mine too," his tone was rueful, "I guess I should have been more aware of my surroundings. I'll ask the guys what they remember from that night. See if we can figure out who did it." His gaze met hers, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Kristy held his gaze for a bit before looking away. "I did miss hanging out with you..." she admitted, "I just felt so awkward because of what happened since I know you don't like me like that-"

"No."

However, the tiny flash of hurt that went across Kristy's face when he said that was what prompted him to continue. "No, you're wrong," Bart paused for a second before deciding to take the plunge, "I do like you...like that."

When Kristy's eyes widened, he decided that it was probably time for a strategic retreat. "Ball's in your court now. Anyways, I'll see you around."

It was only some time after Bart had left that Kristy finally snapped out of it. _What am I supposed to do now?_ she wondered with a groan. The past hour, she'd vaulted wildly from one emotion to the other and now...

Now she didn't know what to think.

* * *

"Hey, I hope you didn't mind Stacey and Lewis' running commentary too much," Claudia smiled up at him as the two of them headed towards her building after the movie. The sun had set some time ago and now the only source of light were the soft glow of the street lights and the brightly lit campus buildings. "It always drives Dawn and I crazy, that's for sure."

"I didn't mind. It was...interesting."

"You're just too nice to say that what you're really thinking," she accused him playfully. "Don't worry, next time we'll get some seats far away from those two." The words were out of her mouth before the words registered in her mind. Oh my god, did I just ask him out? Again?

"No, really-" Will started to protest before he abruptly stopped.

"Will, what-"

A shot rang out and the next second Claudia found herself on the ground with Will hovering protectively over her. Her eyes widened in shock as a gun seemingly appeared from nowhere into his hand and he glanced around, trying to locate the shooter.

All traces of his previous jovial expression were gone. It was like a mask had fallen over his face and the man she had spent the whole afternoon and evening laughing with had been replaced by a stranger. His expression was calm, but deadly. There was no hesitation as he silently nudged her along

She gave an involuntary shriek as another shot ricocheted off the tree next to them.

"I am way too young to die," was the only thought running through Claudia's mind at the moment.

Will returned fire and she thought she'd heard a distant shout before he was pulling her up.

"C'mon," he said urgently as he nudged her towards the towards the buildings spanning the grassy area they'd been walking through just seconds earlier.

Claudia was sure she'd never run so fast in her entire life as another shot rang out. She could hear the hurried sound of footsteps racing after them from behind.

She let out a startled yelp as Will abruptly pulled her into corridor between two of the buildings.

"_Long_! _Where are you?_" Will was hissing into his cellphone as they continued running. "_I could really use some back-up right now._"

"_I'm near the courtyard. South side. Claudia's with me._"

"_No, of course I didn't mean to! You think I like getting shot at?_"

A few more turns later and what seemed like forever in her mind, the sounds of the footsteps finally decreased. Moving into the shadows, Will stood protectively in front of her as the two of them stopped to catch a breath.

She could hear voices calling out in a foreign language and her grip tightened unconsciously on his shirt.

"Will, what's going on here?" Claudia whispered fearfully as her gaze darted wildly around the area. The darkness that provided a cover for them also helped hide the people they'd been running from.

She didn't know who those people were or why they were out to get them but even in her panic, it was obvious that Will was a lot calmer that most people would have been. Not to mention the expert way he'd fired off a shot before they'd started running - it hadn't been the clumsy attempt of a person that owned a gun but never used it but the sure aim of someone that had done this multiple times before.

Will didn't answer. Instead, he pulled her deeper into the darkness as he bent his head down to hers. "There's going to be a black SUV pulling up on the side of the street soon. I want you to run and get in as fast as you can and then duck," he whispered hurriedly, "I'll try to cover you as best as I can. You get that?"

"But-"

"Get that?"

"Yes."

"Good, because we don't have much time."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when a black car stopped with a screech in the street a short distance from where they'd been hiding.

"Hurry!" Will grabbed her hand as he pulled her towards the sidewalk.

The next few moments were a blur as shots rang out and they two of them raced towards the SUV. Even as Claudia scrambled into the back of the car, Will gave a painful grunt as he stumbled.

"Will! No!" She screamed, quickly leaning out to grab ahold of his arm. Somehow, she found the strength to pull him into the car and she barely managed to get the door shut before the driver slammed on the gas.

As the car sped down the road, Claudia could feel some wetness on her hand. Removing her hand from where it'd been trapped under Will, she stilled when she saw what it was.

Will's blood was on her hands.

_To be continued._


End file.
